SixasStandard

These clips from Woolies look like they may work, and at 1.60 per pack of 10 are a lot cheaper than the ones I bought from ANG......... https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/product/1481/spring-clip The 13mm x 9mm size quoted is exactly the same as the OE Triumph ones that I fished out of the door bottom. They don't have a lower barb as per the original, but for use with a weather seal I don't see the need for that lower barb anyway. Ian

Pete, The Rimmer diagrams show Stag/Spitfire/GT6, the ones I need are the smaller versions as per the OE Vitesse fitment. Ian

Hello Tony, The return on the window opening of the door skin is obviously a lot shorter on the Herald/Vitesse than it is on the Spitfire/GT6, so the clip sits proud of the opening with the clip not even fully engaged. Using the wrong clips would stop the weather seal from sitting correctly, so I'm now on the hunt for the correct type. They are out there somewhere!! Regards, Ian

Hello Chaps, A follow up on this thread.......my weather seal clips turned up from ANG in Nottingham this morning. I went to fit them, but unfortunately although they are the correct ones that I ordered, they are the wrong size, so back to square one. There were no original clips fitted on my car, as some thoughtful individual had siliconed the seals on, hence my question to the Forum about the suitability of clips being offered by ANG for the Spitfire/GT6 models. Anyway, to establish the correct size I decided to have a bit of a search inside the doors to see if I could find any 'lost' originals. I took the cappings, handles and trim panel off the door, then removed what was left of the tissue thin moisture barrier sheet to get access to the door internals. I taped a small magnet to the end of a screwdriver and had a prod about, and hey presto! I found no less than 3 of the original clips in the door bottom caked in gunge. A quick clean up, and as you can see from the picture the original clips are much smaller than the one I posted a picture of earlier in the thread.........ergo.......there are different sizes for different models. I'm sure that the larger clip is right for the Spitfire and GT6, but not for the Vitesse/Herald. I just wanted to highlight this difference so that others don't make a similar mistake, particularly when you don't have any original clips to inform your choice. I'll see if ANG are prepared to take them back, and if they have any of the right size. Regards, Ian

Thanks for the quick response Chaps, I've already made a tool, but the cotton is a great idea.......I can just imagine how many would have ended up in the door bottom otherwise! While we're on the subject of door bottoms........should the Vitesse have drain holes in them? Regards, Ian

Hello All, I need to get some door glass outer weather seal clips for my '68 Vitesse. I've seen some on E-Bay advertised as being for the GT6, but they look the same as the ones on the vitesse. Can anyone confirm that they are the same? Thanks, Ian

Hello Chaps, As a follow up on the project to retrim the cubby tray with Ambla.........unfortunately it didn't work out, and so I wouldn't recommend the idea to other members. It looked great to start off with, but unfortunately the material 'memory' was such that the contact adhesive eventually started to let go and caused lifting and buckling of the material. I really thought that I'd cracked it when I first removed the weighted 'press tool', but the amount of deformation required, even with significant heat having been applied, was just too much. Pity, as the initial result was a marked improvement over a purely painted finish. Nothing ventured nothing gained.......but disappointing all the same. Regards, Ian

Clive, I certainly agree that the Weber is a nice bit of kit, but as you point out a bit on the pricey side. There was a used one on Crack Bay and even that was going for 250 quid!! Ian

Thanks chaps, I've plumped for some 10mm thick and 20mm wide black Neoprene foam with adhesive on one side.......I'm confident that it will do the job satisfactorily. Regards, Ian

Thanks chaps, I will look for the thickest I can get!! Regards, Ian

Hello All, What is the current wisdom regarding the gearbox cover seal? I'm planning on using some closed cell foam strip with adhesive backing, but wasn't sure on the width and thickness I should be going for. My initial thoughts were 20mm wide and 6mm thick........thoughts? Ian

Thanks everyone, I think I'll try Adrian's idea and use some packing washers to take up most of the slack, and the remainder I'll fill with a split rubber washer between the angle drive threaded cap and the drive main body. The speedo drive all looked ok when I took it apart, so no need to replace anything there, and the angle drive is doing the job, even with the loose fit, so I'll just focus on eliminating the slack in the existing unit for the time being. A useful exercise though, and for those with limited undercar clearance due to lowered suspension, I would definitely recommend the approach that I took with a scissor jack and axle stand on the inside of the car. It had the added bonus of making the lining up of the rear gearbox mount holes much easier, with small adjustments in height easily accomplished by a part turn of the jack screw. One word of caution though, you need to have confidence in your floor pan's structure, and spread the load with pieces of wood. The other difficulty I found was to position the speedo drive's pinion bearing accurately so that the spigot bolt would engage in the positioning hole. I eventually made a simple wrench from thin steel that engaged with the flats on the threaded end piece (I couldn't get a spanner on the flats), and this enabled me to gently rotate the entire pinion bearing until the spigot bolt engaged. Another word of caution, which will be obvious to most, but is still worth mentioning..........my good friend Richard (Classiclife) warned me to be prepared for some oil seepage when I took the speedo drive out, and in the event quite a bit escaped........in fact far more than I had anticipated. Luckily I had positioned a deep drip tray under the car, so didn't get caught out!! Regards, Ian

The angle drive screws onto the threaded end piece attached to the pinion bearing ok, so no mullered threads.......but the angle drive then just flops around after being screwed on tight, and speaking as someone with an engineering background.......that just doesn't seem right to me. I may well just have to bite the bullet and buy a new angle drive.......but the all metal OE spec jobby from Rimmers is 100 quid!!!........although you can pick up lesser spec items for a third of that from the same supplier, not sure if that would be a wise decision though. Anyway, I just want to be absolutely sure that this amount of play in the angle drive is wrong before I raid the piggy bank (again)........so anyone with definite anecdotal evidence let me know. Regards, Ian

Absolutely no offence taken Graham, and to be honest it's always wise to assume that I know absolutely nothing as a default position!! I am just grateful that more experienced guys are willing to share their hard won knowledge.......as it really saves a lot of grief for those still learning like myself. Regards, Ian

Hello All, FINALLY!!........I now have the speedo drive out, and have to say it was definitely disconnecting the prop that made the difference. With the prop separated you can get a lot of height at the rear of the gearbox, but I still had to resort to the smaller of my AF spanners (1/2" and 7/16") to get hold of that little bugger of a bolt and avoid the exhaust system in the process. Anyway, all out now, so now the priority is to identify if I do actually have an issue with the angle drive or whether this whole exercise has been a massive waste of time. So, what I've found is that all of the wobbliness and what I consider to be excessive play is in the angle drive. The pinion gear and shaft look fine, and are a nice fit in the bearing assembly, which in turn is a nice fit in the overdrive housing. The lock bolt is fine, and is engaging in the bearing assembly ok, with no evidence of any stripped thread or other damage. I have not taken the threaded end piece out of the bearing assembly to check the oil seal, but as no leakage has been observed I'm assuming that the seal is ok. ALL of the wobbliness comes from the angle drive when screwed onto the threaded end piece.........so is this normal? I just can't see why there would be this amount of play when the two are screwed together. I've attached some pictures to hopefully give some idea of what I'm talking about, so any advice or comments would be appreciated. Regards, Ian

Thanks Graham, As Richard has said I do have a trolley jack, but with my Vitesse having been lowered by a previous owner it is all but impossible to get the thing under the car for this particular application. I will put some more blocks under the scissor jack and shorten the tow rope loop to gain the extra height that I need, and as Richard has also rightly pointed out the prop definitely needs to be disconnected to achieve the required lift. I was being a little flippant with my last entry, but it is funny how often a seemingly small project turns into something much bigger. I tend to find it difficult to leave things alone when I find bodged repairs........even when those bodged repairs might well have been working perfectly effectively for decades.........once I know it's there it just keeps eating away at me........so I only have myself to blame!! Ian

Thanks Pete & Richard, Prop will be disconnected tomorrow........this reminds me of a cartoon I saw decades ago.......a bloke in overalls standing in his garage amidst the components of a completely disassembled car, with his Wife peering around the garage door looking incredulous........the caption........."The cigarette lighter wasn't working!". Bloody cars! Ian

OK......so some more advice needed chaps. As you will see from the attached picture I have raided the 'Boys Own Book of Car Repair' to come up with a way of raising the rear of the gearbox in my Vitesse. I have removed the rear gearbox mount top bolts, but can not get the gearbox to rise by more than about half an inch........a tad disappointing to put it mildly! What sort of lift should I be expecting? one inch or several? And can someone confirm whether I need to disconnect the prop or not? as that is the only thing I can think of that might be scuppering things at the moment. It makes you wonder what genius came up with the idea of putting the speedo drive securing bolt in such an inaccessible location. With the bolt head so close to the housing, even with the gearbox tail lifted it still only leaves you with the option of an open ended spanner from below, or some cranked spanners (which I don't have), unless I go 'Medieval' and resort to some water pump pliers. Has anyone actually removed their speedo drive from an O/D gearbox with the gbox still in situ in the car? Any advice or guidance appreciated. Ian

Thanks Pete, Point taken about old often better than new.........I have some spray Lithium Grease, but not sure if that would be too heavy? Unfortunately I don't have any compressed air, as I imagine that would be useful in forcing grease along the cable internals. Ian

Thanks guys, I'll report back when I've got the gearbox lifted and the speedo drive assembly removed for inspection. As it's going to be disconnected, and is at least 32 years old (and possibly 52 years old) should I be considering replacing the speedo cable at this point? Or alternatively is there any maintenance I should be conducting? Ian

Hello Pete, Is this the sort of work that could be done with the gearbox in situ?.......or does it need to come out? Ian

As an addendum to this thread, I have contacted the second owner of my car who installed the O/D back in the late 1980s. Apparently the O/D was taken from a scrap 'G' plate Mk2 Vitesse. Just to confirm about the speedo drive.......should you be able to 'wiggle it about' when it is locked in with the spigot bolt? The bolt is in situ on my car, and appears to be tightened down correctly, but the speedo drive pinion gear shaft still seems loose, whereas the bush that it goes through is locked in place. Ian

If anyone is interested, I'm currently experimenting with the practicality of covering the G-Box cover cubby tray with black Ambla. It was painted when I got the car, and looked a bit tatty, so I'll report back on how it goes. I've made a DIY 'press tool' of sorts out of MDF, and have put the better halve's backup hair dryer to good use. It seems to be working so far.......but I'll leave it as is for a few days to make sure the material is thoroughly stretched to shape. Ian

Whilst we're on this subject......I have a (sort of) related query. My car has a fibreglass gearbox cover, which when I removed it revealed a rather dubious collection of that thin foam sheet (like the stuff your Ikea flat pack units come wrapped in) which had been used as a makeshift lining. What's the current wisdom regarding lining the cover properly? and before anyone asks I'll be looking for a solution more towards the 'economy' end of the cost spectrum! Thanks, Ian

Thanks Dave, Clive, Pete, All comments duly noted, and PDF safely filed away for future reference. Regards, Ian